Camino de Santiago Frances

Thru-HikesCamino de SantiagoInternationalAll Hikes

May 3

INTRO

The Camino de Santiago is a network of long distance pilgrimages throughout Europe, primarily Spain, leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

I am currently on the Frances route which began in Saint Jean Pied de Port, France. This is different from an other backpacking I’ve done; less wilderness, more showers/town food.

Day 4-7 took me from Pamplona, Spain to Logroño, Spain.

OVERVIEW

DAYS

4

MILES/kilometers

59.5/95.2

TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED

6158 ft

TOTAL ELEVATION LOSS

6331 ft

Fuente de vino

Wine Fountain

The shell theme on the Camino continues

- The Rioja region was stunning; sweeping views of vineyards for days.
- Shorter hiking days lead to a lot of relaxation and socialization.
- Fully settled into the Camino groove. And reaching 100 miles!

- Disrespectful middle-aged men in albergues.
- The perpetual snoring symphony and lack of consideration for others.
- My dear friend, George, leaving after completing 100 Miles.

In Depth

- Distance: 14.8 miles/23.7 kilometers
- Elevation Gain: 1550 ft
- Elevation Loss: 1849 ft
I woke up well rested despite being in an albergue with so many people. My earplugs worked overtime, but they worked well. George and I were some of the last ones to leave because the day was overall easier with less elevation and mileage. Additionally, I wanted to get breakfast and things were not open early. We went back to the main plaza and had a delicious breakfast/coffee that set the tone for the day.
It was a long walk out of town through more suburbs and we stumbled upon the University of Navarre. Greg (UK) from a few nights ago, also caught up with us and we went into the university campus. We were even able to get a stamp for my pilgrim passport.
After this, there was a long gradual incline with a steep finale just at the top of the climb. But there were fantastic views, the majority of the way over farms, farmland, and the beginnings of some more vineyards. There were a few towns along the way of this climb, which were great stopping points to run into other people.
At the top of the climb, were some interesting statues representing the types of pilgrims that have made this trek on the Camino de Santiago. They were also some stones that made me think of both Stonehedge and Outlander. Despite my best efforts of touching it, I did not go through the rocks.
The descent was easier than expected, and I was distracted by the absolute stunning views of all of the farmlands. There were fields of rapeseed for oil, which flowers were in full bloom bright yellow at this point in the season. It was looked like a painter’s palette. The farms in this region are not as a gridlike as in a US or the UK but rather follow natural topography, which made all the more beautiful.
A quick lunch stop (little bit more caffeine) made the remainder of the day go by quickly. The end destination for the evening was Puente La Reina. This albergue has been serving pilgrims since 1443. I can only imagine what historical figures have come through this area and stayed in the same rooms as I.
There were several people from the night prior in this spot tonight as well. George and I went to the grocery store and we once again made dinner at the hostel. The albergue bunkbeds were very… Special. Rather than wood planks or metal bars holding up the mattresses there were sheets of metal. Meaning every time you rolled over it sounded like you were wobbling sheets of metal so it was very loud. This combined with the snoring Symphony lent itself to a little bit of a less restful evening.
- Distance: 13.8 miles/22.1 kilometers
- Elevation Gain: 1551 ft
- Elevation Loss: 1320 ft
Similar to morning before, George and I were the last one to leave because our hiking pace allows us a bit more time during the day to reach our location. There was a great café right around the corner from the albergue where we got breakfast and ended up chatting with several people that we shared a tables with. A woman from South Africa, who have been living in Vancouver and we connected over Cape Town and the love of the bush. Then a couple from the Netherlands, who seemed to have life figured out. George and I could’ve talked with them for many days and never have run out of things to chat about. It is amazing that on hikes like this, you can meet people - know their life story know what motivates them and never learn their names. So thank you to the Dutch couple who give me a little bit more faith in humanity.
It’s no surprise that a town name for right now which means the Queens Bridge has an amazing Roman Bridge. As I continued to walk through a small towns and villages, it remained overwhelming to think about how old all of these places are when I am coming from the United States. Or thinking on life looked like centuries ago, as these buildings were made to last. And I can tell you that the skinny roads are not made for the cars that now inhabit them.
There was some flat farmland sections again and a bit of a climb. At the top of the climb was our lunch spot where we got sought out for being a pilgrim/tourist. Things have been moderately priced or lower than I expected, but this lunch, of course was much more as there were no prices listed. It was disheartening to feel like getting mildly taken advantage of on the Camino for the pilgrims that support these small villages. It was double the price of what it should’ve been.
Arriving into the destination for the night, Estella, was beautiful. This medieval town had many bridges and medieval walls all along a giant rock backdrop. It was a bustling central area with accommodation nearby. It was one of the best albergue kitchens and bedroom set ups for the cheapest price that I had paid thus far. George and I once again went out to get dinner supplies and had plans to make dinner at the hostel.
Obviously, in these albergues, there are community showers, but the closest shower to my bunk was an individual shower and toilet room. The door was a sliding door and the lock was a little bit hard to set. As I was in the shower, the sliding door opens and a very intoxicated Dutch man walks in. Despite my loud yelling protest that he needs to get out he just kept repeating to me. “It’s OK it’s OK”while he was attempting to use the toilet - all while he had a beer in hand at the time. Also note that he was at least in his 50s, so he was old enough to know better that he should not be walking into a shower room while the shower is running with a woman who is yelling at him to go away.
George heard the commotion, came in, and had to physically remove him from the area. He never once apologized. Did not see anything particularly wrong with it. And had George not intervened he would’ve stayed in the bathroom with me while I was naked. I have had only positive experiences in hostels in relation to this up until this point so I know that this was a alcohol fueled or induced lapse of judgment, but we would continue to run into him the following days.
The sleeping accommodations were great in that each bunkbed had its own space so things felt more private and a bit more comfortable as compared to a lot of accommodations. Around 10:00pm, a group of, of course Americans, were chatting loudly in the dorm area. (There was a central location with the kitchen and a communal area that they could go and chat in.) I had to go to the bathroom one more time for the night, so I walked over and asked them to stop yelling and singing, and watching concerts on their phone. When I arrived back, all I heard was their distain for me; “who the fuck does that girl think she is“. This was also disheartening because we had connected over the Appalachian Trail miles that we had both done. This also very obviously was alcohol induced. One specific person continued to complain about me loudly in the dorm room for nearly an hour.
I eventually fell asleep and lost one of my favorite accommodations to drunk men made this a very uncomfortable stay.
- Distance: 18.0 miles/28.8 kilometers
- Elevation Gain: 1801 ft
- Elevation Loss: 1682 ft
People begin leaving these albergues around 5:00am so the sleep in the morning time after that is often riddled with sounds of bags being packed or loud conversations. George and I once again left as late as possible, but had leftovers from dinnerthe night before for breakfast.
This was slated to be an extra short day of hiking, which both of us would reassess later. We walked through a lot of suburban or industrial areas getting out of town. eventually, we stopped for coffee just before entering more area of winelands.
One common tradition people have on the Camino is to carry a shell the whole way. The shell motif works its way into all signage and in all mentions of Camino. You will see people with shells on their packs, including myself. This indicates that they are a pilgrim!
Another highlight that is on the Camino Frances is a wine fountain. This is a vineyard that provides wine on tap with people drinking it from their shells. So following suite, I filled up my shell with red wine around 9:00am. I had now entered the Rioja region of Spain, so wine was plentiful.
The remainder of the day honestly cruised by. We unfortunately ran into the Dutch guy, who had walked in on me in the shower the night before. He started getting mad at George because the police had been called. Turns out he made inappropriate advances on another female at the albergue and she called the police. If you as a person, are confused as to which person called the police on you for inappropriate sexual advances… you might be the problem.
We arrived in Los Arcos around lunchtime and decided that we needed to keep going because it was only noon. We got lunch and a sangria made with Rioja local wine and enjoyed some good people watching in the town square. With only about 5 miles to go for the day, it felt quick to get to the town where I decided to stay, Torres Del Rio.
The Camino has stages that are recommended in typical guide books with a decent amount of mileage in between; typically 20 to 25 km which is around 12 to 15 miles. This is doable for a lot of people and the cities along the way are a little bit larger with more accommodation to hold people the amount of people that are doing this in stages. Up until this point George and I had been “on stage” but Torres del Rio then put us off stage. It would turn out that I would prefer to be off stage as much as possible henceforth because less people just meant they were more beds available at albergues. Also, you receive a more intimate environment.
The albergue in Torres del Rio was great. There was a huge dorm room, but it ended up just being three of us total out of 30 beds. They also offered a pilgrim menu at the restaurant upstairs of the hotel and this ended up being one of my favorite dinners thus far on trail.
They were folks from all literally all over the world; Mexico, UK, Canada, Spain, France. We chatted for a few hours over dinner lamented over hiking pains, including blisters, and what brought us to the Camino.
It was a lovely evening, followed by a lovely night sleep as well.
- Distance: 12.9 miles/20.6 kilometers
- Elevation Gain: 1256 ft
- Elevation Loss: 1480 ft
Because we had done more miles a day before it was a short day to Logroño, which is a proper city. This would be where George would depart a day later as he could easily catch transportation back home.
We grabbed a big breakfast from our albergue restaurant and that would fuel us for the rest of the morning before we got into Logroño.
Logroño is the capital of the La Rioja region indicating it was completely surrounded by vineyards. The majority of the day was walking through vineyards until we got to just outside of Logroño where it was a lot of industrial plants to… process the wine.
Lorgoño was actually a beautiful and well laid out city as well as very pedestrian friendly. Unfortunately, we were entering the city center, we saw the Dutch guy who walked in on me in the shower two days prior and had still not apologized for his behavior. He didn’t say anything to us other than making a fake vomiting sound as if seeing me naked was the gag worthy response. Considering again he’s in his mid 50s, this was a terribly immature interaction.
To celebrate reaching 100 miles on the Camino and George’s time coming to a close, we went out for some tapas and of course a glass of Rioja wine. I decided that after a week in shared accommodation that I could get a real hotel with a real shower. Though the albergues have showers and I shower daily, I still need to exfoliate and have a little bit of room to shave my legs at some point.
I took a nap in the afternoon, did some laundry, and had a dinner from the supermarket that included yogurt and berries. Because I’m starting to eat gluten on this trip I’ve been having a lot of sandwiches meat and cheeses that are available so much like longer wilderness trails I crave vegetables at some point.
Of course I was hit with a bout of insomnia the night I’m in a comfy bed with no snores sharing a room, but there was a wonderful way to round out the 100 miles already!